Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library follows Nora Seed, a girl who believes that she no longer has any reason to live. She decides it’s time to call it quits, until she finds herself in the most surprising circumstances. Just when she thought it was all over, Nora wakes to what is coined the Midnight Library. In it contains archives upon archives of parallel universes, multiple versions of the one Nora, several lives that could have been led if some decisions were made rather than others. She now has the chance to live out every single one, to see which she’d rather have. After all, rumour has it that she can continue to live on in whichever world gives her most contentment.

“never underestimate the big importance of small things”

This book sheds light on how one decision – big or small, minor and major – can cause a series of dominoes to fall as a result. Reading The Midnight Library will make you stop to think just how true that is. It invites the reader to engage in deep reflection about the impact of our actions.

“he believed that the more people were connected on social media, the lonelier society became.”

This book is a wake-up call to all that is wrong with the world, namely how dependent we have become on technology and its repercussions. We think that the more socialising we do online, the better we will be perceived. Matt Haig is right to affirm how wrong this perception is, when done so in an excessive manner. It’s one thing to use social media as a means of staying connected and up to date with loved ones, but it’s another to use it as a replacement tool for actual relationships.

The resounding message that I received from this book is as follows:

Appreciate the life that you are given more than the life you think you want, or the life you think would be better, because chances are it wouldn’t have been better.

Sincerely,

Sheeza

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